WHITTIER – In his workaday life L. (Lewis) Ray Sugg for 45 years became a visual fixture around Whittier, driving his truck that sported the slogan “RAY SUGGests Redecorating Now.” During those years, he made a good living for his family as a painter and wallpaperer.

Sugg, born in Dry Fork, Ark. to Samuel P. and Minnie Sugg on May 3, 1916, died on New Year’s Eve 2008 at Stanford Court in Santee of kidney failure. By that time, he had been a Whittier resident for 70 years. His death came at age 92.

He moved to California in 1933 to live with his sister, Kate, and her husband, Tom Maxwell. He graduated from Whittier High School in 1937 and began to work in the trade that provided his livelihood.

His daughter-in-law, Debbie Sugg, a retired Irvine police officer, described Sugg as “a quiet, giving man with a deep sense of community service.” She also said he was a natural gardener who inspired both her and his own daughter, LetaRae Bender of Rancho San Diego, in their pursuits of gardening. Both are now University of California master gardeners in their respective areas. Bender retired from a teaching career.

Sugg’s son, Ralph Martin Sugg, Debbie’s husband, said his father was a “man of action, but a man of few words … his physical work kept him healthy, climbing up and down ladders.”

He was a good family man, said his son, a former state Fish and Game warden who is now a Norwalk Superior Court research attorney.

Ray Sugg was a member of the Greenleaf Masonic Lodge and the Whittier Shrine Club. He and his wife were in the Christian Character Builders’ (CCB) Class of the Whittier First United Methodist Church. Ray also served as an usher and leader of the church-sponsored Boy Scout Troop 461.

Ray Sugg was preceded in death in 2006 by his wife of 65 years, Eloise, whom he met at a church ice cream social and married at Calvary Baptist Church in 1941.

Sugg served in the Army in Australia, New Guinea and Manilla Bay during World War II. He was assigned to the Harbor Craft Division as an engineer aboard a 105-foot air-sea rescue boat.

After the war, daughter LetaRae was born in 1947 and son Ralph Martin was born in 1952.

Ray and Eloise lived for 41 years on Cliota Street before moving to the Whittier Downs area.

In retirement, Ray nurtured his amazing back yard orchard and garden.

Additional survivors include: his sister, Lois Buell of Rogers, Ark.; son-in-law Dr. Robert Bender, a retired pediatrician in San Diego; six grandchildren: Jeff Bender, a fellow in pediatric infectious disease in Salt Lake City, Utah; Allison Tarplee, a family practice physician in South Dakota; Kim Bender, a wildlife biologist in San Diego; Katie Sugg, an elementary school teacher; Heather Sugg, a graduate student in the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Chapman University; and Erik Sugg, a business major at Cal State Chico. He also leaves three great-grandsons; Ryan and Luke Bender, and Dax Tarplee.